1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operating device for controlling electronic devices, specifically to an operating device suitable for controlling electronic devices that are controlled by displaying a plurality of operation keys on a touch panel.
2. Related Art
Various musical media and electronic devices, CD players and MD players, cassette tape players and navigation equipment have appeared and are being loaded inside the vehicles. In order to use the individual electronic devices, a user must utilize many operating buttons to operate these electronic devices, thereby making the operation complicated. For this reason, the images of operating buttons (hereinafter called the operating keys) of each electronic device are displayed on the touch panel and the displayed operating keys enable the user to select the operation, thereby solving the complexity of the operation.
FIG. 5 represents an example of the touch panel type operating device. As shown in FIG. 5, a touch panel displays a selection key 51 for selecting an audio device (FM/AM tuner, CD player, MD player, and cassette tape player), operating key 52 (xe2x80x9cREWxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cPLAYxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cFWDxe2x80x9d) for the audio device selected by the selection key 51. The user can select the desired audio device with the selection key 51 and operate it by touching the operating key 52 displayed by this selection (this Figure represents the selection of the cassette tape player).
As mentioned above, the touch panel type operating device improves the operation of each operating button provided for each electronic device by displaying the selection keys for selecting each of the electronic devices, displaying the operating keys for operating each electronic device on the touch panel and maneuvering the operating keys displayed on the touch panel, making it possible to operate every electronic device, thereby solving the complexity of maneuvering each operating button arranged for the individual electronic devices. However, the display area of each operating key displayed on the touch panel is limited by the size of the touch panel. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5 (a), each operating key is displayed close to each other, which may cause an erroneous operation of pressing other operating keys adjacent to the intended one. Also, in case of which the display area on the touch panel is large, as shown in FIG. 5 (b), a space of a certain size could be established between the displayed operating keys, but at any event, a sufficient display area for the operating keys to prevent the erroneous operation cannot be secured.
As a result, it happens quite often that when the user presses either one of the operating keys displayed on the touch panel, the user presses an area near the border of the desired key and its adjacent key. For example, in FIGS. 5 (a), 5 (b), when the xe2x80x9cPLAYxe2x80x9d key has already been pressed and the audio device is operating the xe2x80x9cPLAYxe2x80x9d, the user could press an area near the border of the xe2x80x9cPLAYxe2x80x9d key and the xe2x80x9cFWDxe2x80x9d key when trying to press the xe2x80x9cFWDxe2x80x9d key. As a result, the judgment that the xe2x80x9cPLAYxe2x80x9d key has been pressed may occur.
In a state of the xe2x80x9cPLAYxe2x80x9d operation, pressing the xe2x80x9cPLAYxe2x80x9d key repeatedly is meaningless. Therefore, when it is judged that the operation has been done repeatedly, as mentioned above, usually, the operation of the audio device cannot be changed as if there was not any operation at all. This is troublesome because since the user has to press the xe2x80x9cFWDxe2x80x9d key again.
The present invention has been made in view of the foregoing circumstances, and it is therefore an object of the invention to provide an operating device with an improved operating performance by making it possible to judge that the desired key has been pressed, even when a user presses an area on the border of the desired key and the adjacent key.
The present invention relates to an operating device to which a key input is received by pressing the operating keys displayed on the touch panel, which comprises a display unit that displays the operating keys on the touch panel, a designated point coordinate detecting unit that detects the location pressed on the touch panel, a key area corresponding table that memorizes the correspondence of a key code with an area on the touch panel, a key determination unit that outputs the key code corresponding to the area including the designated point, and a control unit that expands the area of the adjacent key, when there is a key that invalidates an operation input thereto depending on the state of a controlled unit. In this case, the control unit can expand the key area adjacent to the invalid key and reduce the area of the invalid key as well. With the operating device of the present invention, the desired key can be judged as being pressed, even when the user presses an area on the border of the desired key and the adjacent key, thereby improving the operational performance of the operating device.